22-year-old Atlanta man to spend years in prison for robbing, carjacking senior citizens

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — An Atlanta man was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison after being found guilty of two violent robberies of two senior citizens.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

According to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the guilty verdict for Aaron Neil Johnson, 22, came on April 1 and included armed robbery, robbery, and theft by receiving stolen property.

The charges stem from a series of incidents that happened between Dec. 5 and Dec. 7, 2019.

According to the investigation, Johnson served as the lookout while Joshua Bryant, 25, approached the vehicle of a 74-year-old Rosa Smith at a Chevron gas station on Gresham Road in DeKalb County around 5:25 p.m. On December 5. Bryant hit Smith multiple times with his fists and knocked her down.

Smith, a retired attorney, was hospitalized following the attack. She didn’t suffer any broken bones, but she was left battered and bruised with gashes on her forehead, mouth and cheeks, according to police. She also complained of extreme pain in her hips.

Smith’s terrier mix Daphne was still inside the vehicle. The dog was found wandering in the road the same night in southwest Atlanta and was reunited with her family. The car was never recovered.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Traffic stop leads to chase along I-75. Deputies found more than cargo space in the trunk
• ‘Catastrophic failure:’ 7 dead, 3 in critical condition after dock gangway collapses on GA’s coast
• Driver caught speeding at 154 MPH on I-575

On Dec. 7, a black Toyota Camry was stolen from a gas station in Fulton County by two men matching the description of Bryant and Johnson. Two hours after the theft in Fulton County, the same Camry was used in a carjacking in the parking lot of Kroger on Covington Highway in Lithonia.

Around 4:45 p.m., Johnson approached a 78-year-old woman walking in the Kroger parking lot. He snatched the keys from her hand and then jumped into the Camry, the DA’s office said.

The victim ran to her Mercedes while the passengers of the Camry rapidly circled the lot looking for her car. When the victim refused to back away from her car, Johnson got out of the Camry, pointed a gun at her, threatened to shoot her, and ordered her to back away, the DA’s office said.

Johnson and Bryant then drove away in the Mercedes. The victim’s wrecked car was recovered three days later.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Johnson failed to appear for the final day of his trial, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was found and arrested in Atlanta on August 1, 2024, after a two-hour SWAT standoff conducted by South Fulton SWAT and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. Chemical agents had to be deployed, and Johnson had to be physically removed from the house where he was found.

Bryant entered a guilty plea on September 1, 2023, to one count of robbery and one count of aggravated battery and was sentenced to 20 years to serve in prison.

A third suspect who served as a lookout, Tiffany Swanson, 24, also entered a guilty plea on Sept. 1, 2023, to one count of robbery and was sentenced to five years to serve 430 days in custody, with the balance on probation.

On Tuesday, Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in prison and to serve 15 years in custody without the possibility of parole, with the balance to be served on probation.

©2024 Cox Media Group